However it is not always translated well into Western languages. Westerners tend to import their ideas into Russian novels, Westernising them in a way that seriously distorts them.

A great way of getting a Russian take on Russian literature is to watch Russian movie or TV adaptations of Russian novels. They are consistently excellent and often exceptional and they can be easily obtained in DVD format from Amazon. Some of these adaptations can also be watched free on the Internet, including on Youtube.

Here is a brief and very incomplete selection:

And Quiet Flows The Don (1957)

The Lady With The Little Dog (1960)

War and Peace (1967)

Anna Karenina (1967)

Uncle Vanya (1970)

Crime and Punishment (1970)

Unfinished Piece for Mechanical Piano (1977)

Oblomov (1979)

Heart of a Dog (1988)

The Idiot (2003)

The Master and Margarita (2005)

The Brothers Karamazov (2009)

There is also a very interesting television adaptation of Doctor Zhivago (2006) that makes an interesting contrast to the famous 1965 David Lean film.

Anyone is free to republish, copy, and redistribute the text in this content (but not the images or videos) in any medium or format, with the right to remix, transform, and build upon it, even commercially, as long as they provide a backlink and credit to Russia Insider. It is not necessary to notify Russia Insider. Licensed Creative Commons.